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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26381035">Sand in a Seven Day Hourglass</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ganseyboii/pseuds/andyandromache'>andyandromache (ganseyboii)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nile Freeman-centric, but not a lot because im bad at writing action, me writing another fic where the big villains are oil barons? it's more likely than you think, this is for the anon who asked me to write a kidnapped!nile fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:35:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,678</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26381035</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ganseyboii/pseuds/andyandromache</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hi! I was wondering if i could give you an old guard fic promt? with some Nile whump? Maybe where she gets taken hostage for the first time and everyone comforts her after they get her back? Or anything in that general arena? If you want?" -anon</p><p> </p><p>  <i>There was a lot Nile Freeman had been through in her three years as a guard. She had been shot, blown up, driven over, and had jumped out of windows far more times than she could've ever expected. </i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>But what she hadn't yet experienced was kidnapping.</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>164</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sand in a Seven Day Hourglass</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>thank u for this prompt!! i wanted to make something nile related for nile freeman week 2020 (even if im not technically following the official fic prompts sorry!)<br/>thank you to lyra and cass for sticking by me through my garbage first draft! love you both &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>There was a lot Nile Freeman had been through in her three years as a guard. She had been shot, blown up, driven over, and had jumped out of windows far more times than she could've ever expected. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But what she hadn't yet experienced was kidnapping.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile had been alone for almost a week. If it weren’t for the nightly meal slid under the door, she might have believed the kidnapping ring had left her in the cave to rot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cave she was being held in was on the opposite end of the “livable cave” spectrum from Andy’s. It was cold, the air was always damp, and by the third day she was developing a cough from deep in the roots of her lungs. Somewhere off in the dark corner, there was water dripping from a crack and in the silence of the cell, each </span>
  <em>
    <span>ploink, ploink, ploink</span>
  </em>
  <span> screamed like a gunshot and Nile was pretty sure if her kidnappers were smarter, that would’ve been a successful torture method. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The most painful sounds, however, were the many thoughts swirling around in her whirlpool of a brain. Mostly she was scared. Nile Freeman was scared, bone chillingly petrified, because for the first time since her first death, three years ago, she was truly alone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ever since London, none of them had been taken. It was a spoken rule, never again. There were close calls, Nicky had almost been arrested in Prague and Andy had gone missing for a few hours in the Arizona desert of all places, but none of them had been taken, stolen away in the dark of the night by the nefarious forces they dedicated their immortal lives to fighting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If Nile was less sure of herself and her abilities, she might have also been blaming herself for the kidnapping– if only she had been paying more attention, if only she had been faster, if only she hadn’t gotten distracted after Andy got clipped in the hip, if only, </span>
  <em>
    <span>if only</span>
  </em>
  <span>– then maybe she could have ended that night relaxing back at delta safehouse with her family, helping Andy patch up her new bullet wound and listening to Joe hum along to the radio as Nicky cooked dinner. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Nile was a practical woman who understood that some things don’t always go according to plan. Getting kidnapped wasn’t anyone’s fault except the actual kidnappers and if she was going to be mad at anyone, it should be them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unfortunately, figuring out a target for her anger didn't quite dissuade her fears. Fear was her constant companion in the cave, sitting next to her like the stranger who wouldn’t leave you alone at a bar. If she dwelled on it too much, the idea of being here forever, her family never finding her, her kidnappers finding out her secret, she could feel her breath stick in her throat, solid and hot, as she tried desperately to cling to hope like she was hanging off of a cliff. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Every set of boots that passed her by sounded like a scientist ready to dismantle her piece by bloody piece until her DNA was ripped apart and her secrets could be revealed. Realistically, she knew her kidnappers only had her for collateral against the guards, an insurance policy, but she had also been awoken too many times in the middle of the night by Joe or Nicky thrashing and without asking, she knew it was nightmares from the lab. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was also a little voice, quiet, but persistent, that said maybe Joe, Nicky, and Andy weren’t coming for her. This was the voice she tried desperately to ignore, but by day five, after starving and coughing and feeling the cold settle into her bones, Nile’s defences were getting fairly weak, but she still tried to remind herself that Copley had the plans for seven different compounds these kidnappers had and the guards had no idea which one Nile was in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>By day seven, Nile decided it was up to her. During the day, she kicked in the little window they fed her through, ensuring it couldn’t be opened. When her meal was delivered, the soldier bringing it was forced to open the actual cell door, just in time for Nile to horsekick it closed on him, once to stun and another for good measure because she was feeling petty. She stole the gun out of his holster and checked the clip before making her way into the hall. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To her right, she could see down into the compound, if she followed it, she would hopefully find the courtyard and escape into the night. But to her left was another cell door, much like her own, and she remembered exactly why they had taken on the kidnappers in the first place. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Checking over her shoulder, Nile snapped the keys from the extendable keyring on the fallen guard’s belt and shouldered open the other cell. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sabina?” She called into the dark. A small, sniffling gasp brought her attention to the corner, a mirror of how Nile had spent her week imprisoned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabina was the daughter of the lead scientist in charge of a team working to find a clean oil alternative by the end of the year and they were close enough that the oil barons were beginning to sweat. Kidnapping Sabina had been a last ditch attempt to stop the production and the guards had been called in to save her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sabina,” Nile called again. “My name is Nile.” She made her way inside to squat down next to the young girl. Nile wondered if she spent the week looking as terrified as her. “Your mom sent me to come get you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the mention of her mother, the little girl glanced up, rubbing her nose on her grimy sleeve. Nile held out her hand and Sabina took it, cold fingers finding a white knuckle grip. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Together, they worked their way slowly and quietly toward what Nile hoped was the courtyard, Sabina pressed to her back and her gun trained in front. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile decided that reaching outside with little fanfare was simply dumb luck until she head the sounds of supressed gunfire to the side. The soldiers in the compound were distracted by more pressing matters than her escape. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nile!” Sabina yelled. Nile only had time to register the muzzle flash from the wall before getting knocked back by the bullet’s impact with her  right side. It was a shitty spot, just missing her lung, but probably clipped a rib (lucky, because the last thing Nile needed was to drown in her own blood while trying to escape), but she needed her right arm to shoot. But Sabina was crying and Nile’s brain laser focused on one objective: keep the girl safe. She hauled herself up again, ignoring the way her wound pulled open again as it tried to heal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the fu-” The shooter on the wall yelled, retraining his gun. Nile’s arm snapped up, pain ignored, finger on the trigger-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A shot shattered the air. The gunman dropped, hitting the pavement with a sound that had Nile pulling Sabina close to shield her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nile!” Joe jumped off a ladder hanging from the wall. Above him on the wall, hovering like an angel in TAC gear, Nicky was breaking down his gun with expert precision. Nile felt like sobbing but didn’t have the time. She hauled Sabina after her toward the ladder and helped Joe lift her up and over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andy was on the other side waiting in a van, arm in a sling, eyes steel. She looked tired, more tired than usual after living a mortal life, and Nile wondered if her absence had been stressful. She slid into the passenger seat, pulling Andy’s softening gaze away from Joe helping Sabina into the back. Andy offered her a small smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Glad to have you back,” Joe said, sticking his head up front and dropping a casual kiss to Nile’s brow. They both pretended not to notice his shaking grip on the driver’s seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Glad to be back,” Nile smiled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nicky squeezed her shoulder as he shuffled around, making a space for Sabina to be comfortable and Nile held it tight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andy caught her gaze as she turned the engine over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And you still got the job done. Good work,” she said. Even after three years with the guards, hearing Andy's praise was enough to almost heal the terror she had felt over the last week. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a tearful reunion of Sabina and her mother and a short call to Copley before Andy parked the van down the street from delta safehouse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a moment, once they were inside, Nile was unsure of what to do. Her unasked question was answered by Nicky, who led her over to the couch, gently sat her down, and handed her a warm cup of tea. Her family settled into place around her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We were scared-" Joe started. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So was I," Nile replied, sipping her tea. She felt warmth, from the drink and from the comfort of her team, settle low in her stomach, like a heating pad on a cold day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We're glad you're back," Andy said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thanks for coming to get me." If the mood was less serious, and Nile was a little less terrified, she would have laughed after, to show it was a joke, let them know she always believed they were coming back.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You met us in the middle,” Nicky snorted, and the intensity was dissolved. Nile threw her feet across Andy, avoiding her hip wound, and dropped herself across Joe and Nicky until she couldn't even fathom the cold chill of the empty cell. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their conversation morphed into jokes of the battle plan, the sheer coincidence that they found out her prison the same night she chose to escape, and their pride in Nile’s ability to not only survive, but save Sabina as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile basked in the company of her family and let the week's fear drain out of her, like sand in an hourglass. </span>
</p>
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